Condor restructuring funding undergoes further scrutiny after court annulment

German carrier Condor is facing a renewed investigation into financial support granted by the country’s government, approval for which was recently annulled by the European General Court. The in-depth investigation will probe whether a E321m restructuring package – approved in July 2021 – is compatible with state-aid rules. Assessment of Condor’s compensation measures has been complex. The carrier was provided with rescue financing from the German government, through development bank KfW, when leisure company Thomas Cook Group collapsed in 2019. It was then further financed when, a few months later, the Covid-19 pandemic caused havoc in the air transport sector. Condor’s compensation measures had already been the subject of a General Court annulment in June 2021. The Commission says, in regard to the latest investigation, that the carrier had been provided with E90m in debt write-off from a E550m public loan, plus a re-organisation of the loan’s repayment conditions, and a E20m write-of of interest debt. Approval of this funding, however, was overturned by the General Court in May this year after it ruled that the aid had been granted without a formal investigation procedure.<br/>